Beyond Implementation: How Transformation Labs Support Long-term Stewardship of Urban Nature-based Solutions

Urban nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly deployed to restore ecosystems, regulate microclimates, support biodiversity, and enhance wellbeing. Yet many remain short-lived: once installation and early monitoring end, maintenance budgets shrink, responsibilities become unclear, and socio–ecological performance declines. The EU BiodivNBS NatureScape project addresses this overlooked post-implementation phase by examining how NBS are cared for, governed, and experienced over time in seven European cities – Oslo, Dublin, Riga, Milan, Lisbon, Lublin, and St. Gallen.

To strengthen long-term sustainability, NatureScape establishes Transformation Labs (T-Labs) at demonstration sites, including rain gardens in Lublin; community gardens in Oslo, Riga, Milan, and St. Gallen; school gardens in Lisbon; and goat-grazing vegetation management in Dublin. These T-Labs function as practice-based innovation spaces where municipal authorities, researchers, and community groups jointly observe socio–ecological dynamics, identify stewardship challenges, and co-develop adaptive responses. The approach extends conventional living labs by focusing on long-term socio–ecological change and governance arrangements that support NBS persistence.

NatureScape integrates baseline assessments across five forms of capital (natural, social, human, manufactured, financial) with participatory workshops, PPGIS, citizen science, and systems tools such as causal loop diagrams and multi-criteria assessments. This mixed-methods design enables analysis of NBS as dynamic systems shaped by interactions between ecological conditions, institutions, and community practices.

Early findings from Oslo, Riga, Lublin and St. Gallen reveal recurrent barriers: unclear responsibilities after project funding ends, limited resources for routine care and climate adaptation, insecure land tenure, weak alignment with municipal strategies, and uneven community participation. In St. Gallen, expectations to expand activities, actors, or spatial scope further increase complexity and demand stronger management capacities.

This study presents the NatureScape framework for post-implementation NBS governance and demonstrates how T-Labs can: (i) shift perceptions of NBS from temporary projects to living infrastructures requiring continuous care; (ii) clarify and redistribute responsibilities and resources for long-term stewardship; and (iii) provide structured settings where new forms of cooperation and valuation can be tested and embedded in policy. Embedding co-maintenance and co-stewardship as core practices can help cities move beyond pilot projects toward durable, multifunctional NBS aligned with EU and global biodiversity frameworks and targets.